THRIFT. Orison Swett Marden

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      Before people will back a man with capital, before bankers will loan him money or jobbers give him credit, they want to know what sort of a man he is. They will inquire into his habits, for they know these will indicate his character.

      “Is he stable in his character? Does he save his money? Has he formed habits of thrift? Can his word be relied upon? Has he good business ability? Is he industrious , and sober?” These are the first questions which a banker will ask in investigating a man who has applied for a loan. The same thing is true of the jobbers of whom he asks credit. Business men know that it is pretty safe to trust a young man who has developed the habit of thrift, who is careful of his time, his health, his savings.

      The quality which increases the confidence of others in a young man and adds tremendously to his credit is the reputation of stability, of soundness of judgment in business matters. If a man is known to be careless in money matters; if he is not prompt in his payments; if he is inclined to gamble, and does not have much faculty for holding on to his money, he will have very hard work to get credit or to start in business for himself.

      Every sound business man knows that if a man cannot control himself; if he cannot resist the temptation to spend every bit of his income, perhaps more, in unnecessary ways, in foolish indulgences, he cannot be trusted with money. The man who cannot hold on to his money, who spends it rashly, no matter how honest he may be is always an easy dupe of others, who take advantage of him and his gullibility.

      Nothing will do more to help a young man to get credit and gain for him the assistance of successful people than the reputation of having the saving habit,—of having something laid by, whether in government bonds, or in a life insurance policy, or in some other investment. Such thrift gives him standing.

      A prominent business man says: “Give me the youth who saves to make the man worth while.”

      Every employer knows that the employee who always manages to save something out of his salary, has other sterling qualities, because thrift belongs to a large and most excellent family.

      The man who has a fair salary, but who does not lay up anything, is looked upon with suspicion, either as to his ability or his habits. Level-headed business men always think well of young men who, no matter how little they earn, manage somehow to save part of it. Our savings are a power, not only for the money they represent, but because they are evidences of self-denial, good judgment, thrift.

      The very fact that a young man has the foresight to look ahead, to provide for the future, for others, or against accident, indicates that he possesses fine qualities of mind and heart, and that he is a good citizen and neighbor. People have confidence in him. The reputation of being provident and a good citizen means more credit, more capital, more influence.

      Yet there are young people so foolish as to boast of spending everything they can get, and that they are always in debt. And there are thousands of young men receiving good salaries—some of them very large—who never think of laying up a dollar. They never see anything in their salaries but a “good time,” and they never develop the habit of thrift. You ask them how they are doing, and they will say: “Oh, just getting along,” “just making a living,” “just holding my own.”

      Just making a bare living is not getting on, and it is not sufficient recommendation.

      Bacon says that a man who would live well within his income ought not to expend more than one-half, and should save the rest.

      I knew a young man who had received a good salary for many years, and who had never saved a dollar, but who always intended to save. Every year he thought he was going to save several hundred dollars at least out of his salary; but at the end of the year he always found that all of his money was gone.

      One day someone asked him what he had done with his salary the past year. It set him thinking. Up to that time he had never kept an account of his expenditures; but lie sat down and began to figure up his necessary expenses, and found that they were not equal to one-quarter of his salary. Three-fourths of all he earned had gone for amusement and trifles. He resolved then and there to save half of his salary, and at once opened an account in a savings bank and deposited what he had. He did not make the fatal mistake, which many make, of waiting until he had a large amount to deposit.

      In a short time this young man was not only surprised to see how easy it was to save when he had a strong motive but he was also surprised at the pleasure he had in saving, in watching his account grow, and in planning for a home of his own and to go into business for himself. At the end of the first year he had a splendid balance in the bank, and yet he could not see that he had missed any pleasure which would have been of real benefit to him. He had cut off habits which were injurious to him, and which only made him hate himself for indulgence in them, and with his increasing self-respect, he had formed the habit of reading and self-improvement. Everybody who knew him noticed the great change in his appearance, and it was not long before lie was offered a partnership in a good business.

      “I have often been asked,” says a prominent business man, “to define the true secret of success. It is thrift in all its phases, and especially thrift as applied to saving. Saving is the first great principle of success. It creates independence, it gives a young man standing, fills him with vigor, it stimulates him with the proper energy; in fact, it brings to him the best part of any success—happiness and contentment.”

      No matter how well you are doing in your business or how large a salary you are getting, do not spend it all as you go, for your most effective years do not last very long, and if you spend everything you earn in those years how can you expect comfort and ease in old age?

      Perhaps the great majority of people do their best work and earn their largest amount of money during fifteen or twenty years. Your future comfort and happiness depend on the surplus of your most productive years. Do not risk too much on your prospects for the future. Save to-day. Take no chances with your home. Make a sure thing of it. Never mind the little sacrifices you make to-day. You can afford them for the sake of tomorrow.

      Make a cast-iron rule to lay aside a certain percentage of your earnings every year. No matter how small it may be, or if you have to go without a great many things that you think you need, put a certain percentage of your earnings where it will be absolutely safe. Thrift Stamps are a safe foundation on which to build your happiness and welfare. You will find there is a great satisfaction not only in seeing your little savings grow, but in knowing that such investment on your part, small as it may be, is helping your country to bear its burdens at a critical time.

      The great majority of people are incapable of doing large things—it would be impossible for them to raise any considerable amount of money at once—but the great mass of people can put aside a certain amount from their incomes or salaries and thus provide for the future.

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